Yarn Along #99: Emily Knits A Cardigan--Sleeves!

Previous posts in this series:

The Back is Done

Update!

Emily Knits A Cardigan

My notes on ravelry

June has been busy in cardigan land! I managed to knit both front pieces and learned how to M1L, which was not a lot of fun but now I’ve got it and I am proud. They lay sort of oddly so it’s hard to see here how they fit, but you can see the place where the sleeves will go. All around the cardigan border will be a garter stitch collar.

Above you can see the three pieces together; they’re not lined up appropriately yet, so it’s a rough estimate of what it looks like! (especially the front on the right, just go with it! )

So now I have begun the sleeves! YAY SLEEVES! These have a nice garter stitch cuff detail that I like.

Garter stitch cuff

So the sleeves increase every six rows, on both sides, gradually getting bigger, and then I shape the raglan and it gradually gets smaller, to fit in with the pieces you see above.

After both sleeves are done, then it’s time to SEAM!!!!

I am actually really excited about this, can you tell?

As to what I’m reading….

I got The Ten Thousand Doors of January after Christmas, because it was on sale at B&N (see the sticker? :) ), and yes , I’m just now reading it. Quarantine (which for me is going on and on and on, like the Journey song) is giving me time to read all the books I have stockpiled! This book starts off….oddly. I’m hoping it sort of evens out and we get into a groove, because right now it’s the main character, January, reading a book about someone else who discovered these doors (portals?)…so yeah. It’s sort of weird but I’m hopeful! (really, it’s that gorgeous cover that sucked me in. Well that, and 50% off.)

Yarn Along #97: Emily Knits a Cardigan UPDATE!

Hello alll!

So you may be wondering where my cardigan project is?

It’s on the needles, humming along….

In case you’re new to this, here are the posts in this series so far:

Emily Knits A Cardigan—pattern, schematic, basics

Once I got gauge, I was happy as a clam and began immediately.

This little gauge is the BEST THING EVER, really.

So all was going well until…..

I had to RIP OUT. Alas! I dropped a stitch and I didn’t like how I fixed it, so I figured it was better to just rip it out and start again….so I did. I’m almost back to where I was before that, which is good! (I had just joined the third ball to the back piece, and was getting close to beginning the raglan shaping. EXCITING! :)

(Really, it is!)

So that’s been my main project. I am loving it. I have a bunch of yarn here for other projects that I’m debating casting on and then just rotating through projects but I also feel like I need to give the cardigan most of my love.

I’ve also been loving my Knit Stars classes, which I bought when they were on sale during the Early Bird period, so now I have Knit Stars 1 and 2 and 5, when it officially opens in October. Yay! I’m learning so much, which is great, especially as I work on the cardigan.

I’m also still working on the Elementary Wrap from Purl Soho, but that’s more like weekend knitting. Most of my time is on the cardigan. :)

Although I did pick up this GORGEOUS yarn….

As for books.

Yes, a lot of reading. Some of this is research for book 2, and a lot of it is just reading to keep me sane. :)

What are you reading/knitting/doing?

Yarn Along #96: Comfort knits!

OK, so story—

this is Crookshanks. A stuffed Crookshanks (obviously). I’m not allowed to have a real cat or dog—someone else would have to clean up after them, and since I live alone, no go. But in Quarantine Time, when no one is allowed to come over and give me hugs, the stuffed cat is going to have to do. And, for my amusement and the amusement of others, I’ve been posing her doing things, so I thought I’d start off this yarn along with something (hopefully) amusing!

Anyway, she’s holding one of my “comfort knits” that I’m doing during this period.

I decided to raid my stash and take out yarn that I’d been holding back (why, I ask myself), and just knit it up. I have three skeins of this City Tweed from Knit Picks that I’d been saving and I decided I was just going to knit them. They’re on size 9 needles, cast on 22 stitches, and just knit. There you go. This color (above with Crookshanks) is called Rhubarb, and I also have Chipmunk….

And a third skein in Morning Glory. So these are really simple, the yarn is yummy, and I love working with it, so, there we go.

I also have two skeins of Quince’s Osprey yarn in Peacock that I’ve been using to make Puck’s Scarf.

I have not abandoned my Elementary Wrap. It was just that last week I wanted basic, basic knitting. So this week I will resume my work on the elementary wrap.

(Also, if you’re not on Quince’s email list—you’re missing out. They’ve been sending out FREE PATTERNS every Friday during this pandemic time—happiness! [Well at least some happiness, right?])

I’m reading many, many things (you can see what I read last week here), but right now I’m reading A Ring of Endless Light, one of my favorite books, and sort of appropriate for right now, given that the book revolves around the main character’s grandfather dying, and discusses the nature of life and death and God. Yes, a lot for something categorized as a “kids’ book”! (and no, the movie with the same title does not follow the book really closely at all….sigh.)

Yarn Along #95: The blanket is almost done!

Linking up with Ginny!

So the biggest project—literally—is the November blanket. I’m on the last 25% of it so yay! It’s actually pretty heavy to work with now, and I have to settle in for long periods of knitting with it because it’s just so hard to move on and off my lap!

The thing that makes me nervous is trying to block this baby—for people who have knit blankets, do you block them? I just have this image of it being heavy and unwieldly….

The book I’m reading is Sonja Corbitt’s Exalted, which takes us through the Magnificat. I am loving this book—it’s one of my many Lenten reads. I’m reading a chapter a day so I don’t completely devour it in one sitting!

What are you reading and working on right now?

Yarn Along #94--completed WIPs and more WIPs!

It’s time for the FEBRUARY YARN ALONG! Yay!

Linking up with Ginny, who is also talking about my book, so thank you Ginny! :)

It’s a mega yarn along today, which is perfect because it’s cold outside (It’s actually like, winter-y here! We’ve had a really mild winter!) and windy, so let’s get hot drinks and talk about yarn and warm things!

Here we go!

Finished Projects

Oh boy oh boy!

First up is the Isla scarf, where I used Quince and Co Lark in lupine:

Second, the Sully blanket, for a friend who’s having a baby. The photo is of it off the needles but not finished (ends aren’t woven in and it’s not blocked). I didn’t add the border, because reading the instructions sort of freaked me out!

The yarn is Knit Picks Shine Sport in (L-R) Sky, French Blue, Clarity (a really pale blue), and Robot.

In Progress

The November Blanket, from Quince, made with their Puffin yarn in twig (a lovely milk chocolate/hot cocoa color). The yarn was a Christmas gift.

It’s a really lovely project to work on because it’s on big needles so it goes quickly and the blanket grows as you knit it, so your lap gets progressively warmer! A nice winter knit.

**

The Elementary Wrap, from Purl Soho, a shop in New York City, that I just discovered (I’m heading to NYC in April!). I’m in love with their free patterns and their gorgeous yarn! They have several versions of this wrap (all of them free), and I’m doing the one that uses their linen quill yarn.

This project fills a gap in my knitting wardrobe—sometimes I don’t want a shawl or a scarf, I want a wrap, you know? This is basic stockinette stitch with a pretty little border. The only problem, of course, is that the knitting doesn’t lay flat when you put it down, so it’s hard to photograph well. Here’s a look at in with me holding down the edges:

Isn’t that gorgeous yarn? I love the heathered quality of it. It’s their Linen Quill (alpaca, linen, and wool) in fresh nutmeg. Gorgeous! And I like that it’s neutral, but it’s not the usual suspects—black, white, gray, navy. It’ll go with a lot of what I wear.

And finally, a teapot cozy…

This is made with Malabrigo Metcha yarn in anniversario. I got the pattern from the 2018 Love Knitting. It’s a one skein project but it involves cable needles! So I’m going to get a chance to try that technique out here.

I’m re-reading Little Women, not because of the movie (which I haven’t seen), but because I generally read it a lot. It’s one of my favorite books. And it was the Well-Read Mom Book Club choice for January. I belong to the club, even though I’m not a mom, and January got so away from me in terms of everything that I didn’t read it then. So I’ll read it now, and then move to the February selection!

Seven Quick Takes --Second Friday of Advent

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Around these parts this week:

Yarn Along #93

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Soooo this week. It was pretty quiet, which was nice. I got my hair cut on Wednesday. The reason this is notable is because I am terrible at doing hair cuts. I gone like once a year, and I really should go more often. Resolution for 2020—have better hair? (As in, don’t let split ends go one for months and months without end….)

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speaking of resolutions—do you set them? I generally don’t. I use Lara Casey’s powersheets to set goals for the year, and that’s incredibly effective for me. I’m in the middle of doing the prep work for the 2020 sheets. If you haven’t used powersheets before, or have trouble setting and achieving your goals, I highly recommend these. I doubt my book would’ve been published without the work I did with the powersheets. That’s how important they’ve been to me over the last five years.

Her blog is also full of great tips and she walks through doing the prep work with you! So it’s really lovely and I highly highly recommend this way of goal setting.

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Let’s talk about Advent? In my house, I have my tree, nativity, and Advent wreath up. Baby Jesus isn’t in the manager yet, and the Wise Men are making their way to the manager (they’re currently living on the living room bookcase). I keep my tree up until Candlemas (Feb. 2), pretty much. If not the tree, then the nativity for sure. I love Christmas, the whole Christmas season, and so I will celebrate it to the hilt.

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How are you doing on shopping? Are you done? I am, yay! (And yes, from every take until the book is published, there will be a link to buy the book—it makes a great gift, go get it….)

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In terms of Christmas movies, I watched The Nutcracker and the Four Realms last night, and it was pretty good. I think kids would like it. It got really iffy reviews, which I don’t really understand. It’s a fine movie. (Fine as in, perfectly acceptable and you don’t feel like you’ve wasted two hours of your life when it’s over.) If you have never seen Muppet Christmas Carol, you must. (It’s on Disney+!). That’s all I’m gonna say about that. You have to watch it.

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It’s almost Gaudete Sunday! Yayyyy! I love lighting that pink candle.

How was your week? What are you up to this weekend?

Yarn Along #93--new project, finished project, project in progress.....

I missed this last week, so was happy that Ginny didn’t have the link up and I missed it, because last week was insane (see here for why). But now I’m (knock wood!) feeling like I am ready to get back into rhythm in all ways, and that includes knitting! (I’m not sure if Ginny will have a link-up this week either, but here’s my knitting and reading anyway!

New project

For some reason, I always cast on some new project Thanksgiving weekend. I don’t know why. It must be some sort of switch in my brain. “Ah! Turkey! Must cast on new project!”

So this year it’s one I’ve already done before—the Skye cowl—but in a deliciously autumnal color that I ordered while I was in the Resort. (My journal is full of knitting scribbles—some of which are really just that, scribbles!—about projects and colors and types of yarn….the meds obviously made me go nuts in this department!) The color is Quince’s malbec, in their puffin yarn, which is so nice and squishy and knits up beautifully. I think I twisted stitches somewhere, but honestly, I don’t really want to rip it out. I don’t mind a cowl with a twist in it. If it was a hat, obviously, I would’ve had to start again. But with a basic cowl? Meh. So I didn’t and I just keep knitting.

Finished project

My Felicity scarf, made of Colonial Williamsburg yarn! Yay!

Simple, but I really liked working with this yarn. It’s thick enough that you can cross it over your upper chest but not so thick that a coat won’t close nicely over it. It’s also nice to grab if I’m just running out to get the mail and want something a little warmer over my top, but not a whole coat.

In Progress Project

Yup, I’m still working on the Isla scarf. This takes four skeins of yarn, so it’s a long process, but I’m about halfway through the third skein, so the end is nigh!

Reading….

You can see my pile there. I read When Less Becomes More last month, and it’s probably my favorite of Emily’s books to date. My Aunt Mary got me The Dutch House when I was in the hospital and I (sadly) have not started it yet, but it’s the next book I’ll start! A Single Thread was a Christmas gift (early) and that’s after The Dutch House.

(Speaking of books—pre-orders for Living Memento Mori are open…..)

How about you? Are you knitting any Christmas gifts? What are you reading?

Yarn Along #92--knit, purl, and CW yarn

(Linking up with Ginny!)

Oh gosh I’m so glad September is OVER!!!!! :)

I’m also happy to show you my knitting!

It’s the same two projects I’ve been working on, but there’s been progress on both. Yay!

I’m almost to the halfway point on Isla. This is such a fun project to work on because the yarn is so squishy and the pattern is so cool. I love seeing it grow under my hands and really, once you’ve done the block pattern a few times, this isn’t hard. It’s really just a 2, 2, 2, 4 pattern—so either knit, purl, knit, purl, or purl, knit, purl, knit.

And I’ve passed the halfway point on the “Felicity” scarf—it’s really not a pattern, it’s my own playing with yarn.

This is the yarn I got at Colonial Williamsburg a few years ago. I decided to make a historical pattern with it—meaning, that it’s something a person in the 1770s would’ve made or worn. The yarn is a bit thicker than I think it would’ve been at the time, because I’m using an 8 gauge needle, and according to my (quick) research, they didn’t really use 8 gauge needles at that time. Everything was done on tiny needles. But I don’t see how I could do this on a tinier needle—really, I should do this on a 9 or even a 10!

But it’s creating a very thick, squishy sort of fabric.

The one thing you see here is that the colors are different. They use colonial dyeing methods (obviously), so the colors don’t exactly match. I knew that going into it—I picked these two out from the basket because they were close. Now, thinking back on this, I could’ve done something where I alternated skeins, so it wasn’t this obvious, but…..I didn’t. :) And honestly, I don’t mind, because I still might stitch the ends together to make a cowl.

If you want to read more about their methods, they have a book! It’s great!

Speaking of books, since St. Therese’s day was yesterday, I’m re-reading Story of a Soul. My friend Elizabeth wrote the introduction to this particular edition!

What are you reading or knitting? Or both! :)

Yarn Along #90: Fun with Knit and Purl! :)

So, getting away from the heavy stuff in the last post, let’s talk about yarn!

linking up with Ginny

So, Quince and Co. celebrated their birthday a few months ago, and they were having a sale on their first collection of patterns—sale meaning, if you were an email subscriber, you got a code for one free pattern from this collection! So I chose the Isla scarf, because, one, it’s a scarf, and I like those (obviously), but it’s also a fun pattern that does some nifty things, using knit and purl stitches. I’m knitting it in their Lark yarn, lupine colorway, and let me tell you, this is pretty great yarn. (The color description for Lupine is, “Deep periwinkle waving in Maine summer breezes.” Who can resist that?)

It’s slow going because I do have to pay attention to what I’m doing—not only are there pattern changes, but also needle size changes, which at first I was worried about, but it’s not hard. And one “repeat” of the pattern is 28 rows. So this isn’t really a great watching TV project, because I have to concentrate, but it’s still a lot of fun to work on. This might be a good sports knit, because I can watch the game but it’s not like there’s plot. :)

See those little rows? Those are from using the smaller needles. This is so squishy, you can’t even believe it.

Here’s a better look at the length….

I am, as usual, reading five million books, but the one you see here is for a Facebook Book Club. We’re reading Loss and Gain * to prep for John Henry Newman’s October canonization. I’m on track with the reading but not my contributing, bad me!

I’m also reading Gift from the Sea * (again) and Emily Ley’s books, Grace Not Perfection * and A Simplified Life. * September is the “new school, new year” season for me—does it feel like that to you? I always feel like I want to lay down new rails and set new habits and structures in place. (And keep your eyes peeled—I’ll have a post—or several—about this soon!)

*=Amazon affiliate link

August yarn along--a bit of lace

linking up with Ginny!

So, on Sunday I decided to try working on a basic lace pattern. I have to do lacework for my Find Your Fade shawl, and when I first tried it in January, I was really confounded by it! So I’ve been working on smaller projects to try to get the hang of it.

This is a horseshoe lace pattern bookmark…..

You can see why it’s called horseshoe!

This really isn’t hard. I know it looks hard! But the twisting happens just naturally as the way the pattern is written. The problem for me right now is that this isn’t knitting you can sort of pay attention to—you have to pay attention the whole time. The pattern repeats in sets of 8, but if you miss a row, interesting things happen. (Ask me how I know this….)

The pattern called for size 3 needles, which I don’t have, so I used size 4, and the yarn is from my feile shawl. It was just too pretty to sit in my stash!

These are long bookmarks. They don’t look this long in the pattern photo, but trust me, they are….

As for what I’m reading….

I’ve read The Lambs * before, and it’s just great. If you love stories about animals, the natural world, family relationships and….sheep, you’ll really like it!

I’ve also got this big stack—one library book, three pleasure reading novels, and a whole bunch of books for the Well-Read Mom year….

There are two more books for the year that I haven’t gotten yet, and two more that I already have and are on my shelves—The Picture of Dorian Gray and Little Women. (Of course I have Little Women! My house is named after their house!)

I’ve also created a list that sums up all the knitting projects in the pipeline right now—a baby blanket, a scarf (new pattern! Exciting! I don’t actually have a long scarf for me to use in the winter!), my Find Your Fade shawl—I’ll at least do the set up section again and get that on the needles—and a cowl I’ve been wanting to make forever!

Yarn Along #91

Hi y’all! Happy almost Independence Day (if you’re American)!

via GIPHY

I’m still working on my Dahlia scarf: it’s four skeins of yarn, so it’s long, but I’m in the third skein now, so I’m past the halfway mark. It’s crazy simple knitting, just garter stitch, so that makes it really easy to do while I watch TV (Wimbledon!) or movies, or if people are visiting and I want something to do with my hands while we talk!

The book is Greek to Me: Adventures of the Comma Queen, which I’ve been intrigued by since I saw it at Tattered Cover in Denver in April. which is about the author’s trip to Greece and how the Greek language influenced English.

Yarn Along #90 (AKA, finishing the WIPs!)

Oh my gosh, so much knitting stuff to tell you! :)

Settle in….

So one of the things I made a priority when I moved to Orchard House was finishing my works in progress! I had four going on, and now I have one so I am insanely happy about that.

One of them, the sans kerchief, is basically a really big linen square, and it has a ton of mistakes in it, so I basically used it as a big swatch, to see how linen works. I did it in Quince and Co’s sparrow (truffle colorway, gorgeous!) and I even put it in the washer and dryer, and it held up! So this is my linen “full of mistakes” swatch. :) But it’s off the needles and done and I’m sure I’ll find some uses for it around the house.

(No, there is no picture of it. :) )

I started another linen project: The Dahlia scarf with the sparrow yarn, in eleutherea this time. It is gorgeous.

Here it is, before I wound it:

Really, I wanted a lightweight, long scarf I could wear in the summer and not melt. :) So I chose this nice blue. I also had made another scarf in this pattern—the main photo at the top.

That was one of the WIPs and I just cast it off. It’s not as long because I ran out of the original color yarn and stupidly didn’t buy two skeins when I should have, so it’s got a bit of contrast yarn at the bottom, but I didn’t want to do the whole rest of the scarf that way, so I just cast off. But it’s lovely anyway!

The third project I’m working on is actually a gift, so I’m not going to show it here, and it’s not completely done yet, but it will be by the time I’m going to give it! :) It’s one of my basketweave scarfs, and y’all know what those look like. :)

So currently, I have three WIPs—the new Dahlia scarf, the gift, and the supermoon kerchief that I started eons ago and really need to finish! :)

I’m reading Susan Branch’s Girlfriends, which I was lucky enough to find a copy of, since it’s hard to find! I’m also re-reading my opera guides because I’m re-watching Wagner’s Ring cycle, because I’m a nerd like that. But it’s actually really good knitting music. :)

Yarn Along #89

I’ve finally cast off my shawl, and now I’m in the process of weaving in the ends and then blocking it. Yay! I can’t wait to wear it!

This shawl has taken me a long time and part of it was because of the move, and then getting my blocking supplies from my parents’ where I stashed it before the move….but now we’re all caught up.

I was just in Denver for my sister’s bachelorette party, and while I was there I got to visit Tattered Cover, an independent bookstore chain there. It was pretty awesome, and of course I got a lot of books:

I’ll have more on Denver in a travelogue post later this week or next!

What are you knitting or reading? Share with me!

Yarn Along #88

Linking up with Ginny!

I’m in the last stretch of my Feile shawl. I’ve really enjoyed knitting this so I’m sort of sad to see the end coming, but I can’t wait to wear it! It’s so pretty!

I’ve heard about Peace Like A River for YEARS—seriously, a child life specialist told me about when I was probably 20 or so—so I figure it’s time to read it.

Once I finish the Feile I’m not sure what I’ll do! I want to use the yarn I got at Williamsburg but I don’t know what to make with it! I’m thinking I might go simple and make a cowl or a scarf. Or maybe a hat.

Ash Wednesday Yarn Along!

It’s Yarn Along Time!!!! :)

And it’s Ash Wednesday, so happy Lent to you! And yes, I do mean “happy” Lent. I really like Lent, probably because: 1) I’m a spring baby, and 2) I was born on Good Friday. So, I like Lent. And I also need discipline every once in awhile (who doesn’t), and the spiritual rigor of it, the peeling away of the non-essential, is a good thing.

Anyway, to the yarn!

OK, so the details:

This is the Feile shawl, which I am loving. I love how the stripes change—do you see how they had a sort of neat pattern going on, and then switch to solid stripes? Love that. Eventually, the contrast color, the blue, will become the dominant color as I work toward the end of the shawl, with the white being the contrast. This is a really easy shawl, but the fun is in the slight pattern changes. The thing that’s going to be a pain is all the end weaving in! But oh well.

I’m using Frabjous Fibers yarn, the Mad Hatter base (sport weight). The white speckled is Victorian China, and the blue is called “Muchness” (seriously, isn’t that great?). I’m using Knitpicks sunstruck needles, size 4, on one of their interchangeable cables.

The book is a great one for Lent, I think: Catherine Doherty’s The People of the Towel and Water. It’s about doing every day activities as prayer—really being present in the moment, and allowing everything you do to be prayer, working for God, even when you’re sweeping or cleaning or writing (or knitting!). Catherine founded Madonna House, and I’ve been reading some of her writing lately. I recommend it!

Yarn Along #86

Linking up with Ginny!

I finished my shawl!

I’m definitely getting faster at this pattern the more I do it; this time it took me a little over a month. Not bad. (And of course the crazy cold days when I couldn’t do anything but stay inside also helped.)

I’ve started my Find Your Fade shawl. Right now, this is a pattern where I have to pay attention to what I’m doing, because I’ve had to start it over twice—once because I had too many stitches, and once because I forgot what row I was on and knit the wrong thing….sigh…..so this represents my third attempt. Fortunately I love the yarn! (I’m doing this is Knitpicks Hawthorne yarn, on Knitpicks needles). If you click the Hawthorne yarn link you can see all the colors I’m using, because I used that kit. I’m hoping to finally get out of the first section today and start the lace bit. I’m a little nervous about this because even though I understand the technique involved, I’ve never done lace before…..so fingers crossed! My ravelry notes are here.

As for reading—last night I stayed up late to read The Winter of the Witch *, the last book in the Winternight trilogy, which takes place in Medieval Russia and blends fantasy and history. They’re so good, and if you haven’t read them, I do recommend it. I love Russian history anyway, so that helped me get into these when the first one came out a few years ago.

I’m still chugging my way through Villette although I’m getting a little annoyed with Lucy Snowe….not surprising, I get annoyed with lots of Charlotte’s heroines. I think I’m going to start The Terror next, or The Sea Queen, * but I think with The Sea Queen I’ll have to re-read Half-Drowned King first….just to make sure the story is really fresh in my mind again. Can you tell I’m on a myth/fantasy kick? (These books are Norwegian stories, based on myth and legend. Very cool and very well-written.)

*=Amazon affiliate link

Yarn Along #85

Winter is really killing my soul this year—it’s been so cold that the cold is always in the house, you know? You’re sort of always cold, and I don’t want to crank up the heat because then I’ll have an astronomical bill in February (the heat company here is….um….rather iniquitous when it comes to their rates). So at least knitting my shawl helps keep me warm!

I’m re-reading Villette and trying to see if I like it better after about 15 years have passed since I read it first. Charlotte Bronte was pretty anti-Catholic, and this book highlights that, so there are definitely parts where I just have to roll my eyes. It’s also annoying that there’s a lot of French in it which is translated in the back. (My French is decent, but not perfect.) Maybe that’s just this edition. But anyway, it’s a typical Gothic novel/ghost story/crazy romance in the Bronte sister vein, and it’s good reading for winter.

Yarn Along #84: The Lambs and Wool Shawls

I’m about to be living in Hoth again:

Seriously, it’s going to be so cold—I’m hearing negative numbers for actual temps on Sunday and Monday. Time to batten down the hatches!

At least when knitting a shawl in winter, the shawl keeps you warm! I’m into the striping section which is easy and pretty relaxing so I can watch Tidying Up with Marie Kondo or Home Town while I’m knitting and I can stay sort of warm.

The Lambs * was a wonderful book about a lawyer who decided to close her firm and move to a farm in Virginia where she raised karakul sheep. The story is wonderfully written, and the book itself is lovely, with color photographs and gorgeous design. If you like to knit, like sheep, animals, or farming, or just a well-written, meditative memoir, this is the book for you.

*Amazon Affiliate link

Yarn Along #83--shawl progress and Mary Magdalene

Progress is being made! Yay!

If you’re new, it’s the Drachenfels shawl in Quince and Co’s chickadee yarn—here you see peacoat (a dark navy blue, not black), and camel. The third color that will be incorporated is gingerbread.

I’m reading (well, one of the things I’m reading) Saint Mary Magdalene Prophetess of Eucharistic Love*. It’s really good, in that it talks a bit about the history of Mary Magdalene, her presence in the gospels, and how that relates to Eucharistic Adoration today. I’m underlining an awful lot! I’m pretty passionate about the Eucharist, so this book is definitely inspiring me to get to Mass and adoration as often as I can!

Today I’m getting another package from KnitPicks, which has the needles I need to start either Felie or Find Your Fade….which one shall I start first?!?! The Drachenfels shawl is in a good place to stop; I have to do one more repeat of the main section and then I’m done with the first page of instructions. Which one do you think I should cast on first?

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Yarn Along #81 (Not the swatch post!)

This is NOT the swatch post that I promised here. That’s coming. So you’ll have to come back if you want that!

This is the “Yarn I got for Christmas and projects I’m planning with it” post. Also, “Books I got for Christmas”.

But let’s talk yarn first.

First of all, I got delicious Chickadee Yarn from Quince and Co., which you know I love for yet ANOTHER Drachenfels shawl! But this one is going to be autumnal in flavor. These shawls are really done based on colors I see and want to do—the Sage shawl was in part Sage influenced, but also influenced by early spring in Ohio.

Anyway, the colors for this one:

Gingerbread

Camel

Peacoat

This is autumnal, but also inspired by Eowyn’s wardrobe in the Lord of the Rings movies. One of her outfits is that gingerbread color, she wears a dark blue robe in Return of the King, and her hair is the sort of camel color, but it also echoes some of the embroidery on her Rohan gowns. So again, this is a doubly-inspired shawl!

The next two projects were financed by my dear friend Sarah, who gave me a gift certificate to Knitpicks, which meant I could take advantage of their yarn sale and buy enough yarn to do a Find Your Fade shawl! I know I’m late to this party, everyone else did this years ago, but now I know the skills needed to do it (thank you Aunt Sue for your tutelage yet again!).

So here are all the colors for THAT. The yarn is Knit Pick’s Hawthorne line, in various types—kettle dyed, multi, and their speckled.

Whew! So the fade goes from top to bottom, and the colors are: (KD=kettle dyed, S=speckled, everything else is the multi)

Sellwood

Goose Hollow

Delphinium (KD)

Alameda

Abernathy

Turkish Delight (KD)

Berry Smoothie (S)

I sort of adore these colors! Which is good because this shawl is SO big that I’ll be using them for a long time!

The last project is the felie shawl, where I’m using Frabjous Fibers yarn—their speckle in Victorian China—and the Hawthorne Turkish Delight you see above.

So, WHEW! Is that enough yarn for you?

As for books:

I adored Marilla of Green Gables. I also got The Gown, News of the World, The Terror, and Book Girl either as Christmas gifts or bought with Christmas gift cards/money. So I’ve been reading a lot, and, as I always do at the beginning of January, I’m re-reading One Thousand Gifts. (those are Amazon affiliate links) I will report on the others as I read them, or you can follow me on Goodreads!

What are you reading/knitting?